By Kazeem Ugbodaga
FCMB Group Plc has revealed a pre-tax profit of ₦79.3 billion for the first six months of 2025, showing a 23% rise from the corresponding period in 2024.
The show was fueled by significant increases in net interest income and better returns on earning assets.
Total revenue increased substantially by 41.3% compared to the previous year, reaching ₦529.2 billion, an increase from ₦374.5 billion in H1 2024.
This rise was mainly driven by a 70.3% growth in interest revenue, although it was somewhat balanced by a 35.1% drop in non-interest income, which resulted from a ₦36.6 billion decrease in foreign exchange revaluation profits compared to the prior year.
Net interest income almost doubled, increasing from ₦106.2 billion to ₦207.4 billion. The Group achieved a net interest margin of 9.1%, an increase from 6.3% in 2024, driven by higher asset yields reaching 20.2%.
FCMB's ongoing digital transformation initiatives have produced positive outcomes. Digital income rose by 60% compared to the previous year, moving from ₦46 billion to ₦73.6 billion, and now accounts for 13.9% of total revenue.
This increase was fueled by the growth in online transactions, personal loans, and investment management offerings.
Operating expenses increased by 46.1% to ₦153.2 billion, driven by increased staff expenses, regulatory fees, technology spending, and overall inflation. Even with this rise, the Group managed to enhance its cost-to-income ratio to 57% as of June 2025, compared to 59.9% in 2024.
Net losses from financial assets increased to ₦36.2 billion, after its banking subsidiary left the Central Bank's loan relief program. Consequently, the risk cost rose to 2.8%, compared to 1.8% in the previous year.
Net profit increased by 23%, amounting to ₦73.4 billion during the six-month period.
Results across different business units differed. The Consumer Finance segment experienced a 54.5% rise in pre-tax profit, while the Banking Group saw a 41.3% growth. Investment Management increased by 10%, but Investment Banking faced a 48.9% drop, due to a one-time divestment gain that was recognized in 2024.
The Banking Division accounted for the biggest portion of the Group's PBT, at 82%, followed by Consumer Finance (11.6%), Investment Management (4.8%), and Investment Banking (1.4%).
The Group's balance sheet continued to be robust. Total assets increased by 6.9% to ₦7.54 trillion, compared to ₦7.05 trillion in December 2024. Customer deposits grew by 5.6% to ₦4.55 trillion, supported by a positive composition of low-cost deposits, which now account for 69.3% of total deposits, an increase from 57.5% at the end of 2024. Loans and advances rose slightly by 1.1% to ₦2.38 trillion, due to the effects of currency revaluation and repayments on net growth.
The amount of assets managed increased by 15.5%, totaling ₦1.58 trillion, whereas the capital obtained via investment banking services jumped by more than 600% to reach ₦2.97 trillion.
FCMB also noted enhanced financial efficiency, as its net interest margin increased from 7.9% in Q1 2025 to 10.1% in Q2. The leadership remains confident in maintaining this trend and exceeding annual margin goals.
After raising ₦144.6 billion in capital in 2024, the Group stated that the Central Bank of Nigeria has finished verifying a ₦22.5 billion mandatory convertible note, which is part of the second stage of the recapitalization initiative.
This will raise the overall number of shares to around 42.8 billion. The capital restructuring process is ongoing, with the goal of fulfilling the regulator's minimum capital requirement to sustain global banking activities.
In the future, FCMB Group states that it continues to concentrate on improving operational efficiency, expanding digital and retail business development, and maintaining its robust earnings trend into the second half of the year.